All I wanted
by beautyandthebeastiality
Summary: After fighting Haggar and rescuing Allura from Zarkon, Shiro and his Lion are thrown out into the unknown. He lands on a distant planet that Ava has been living on for the past 4 months. Ava and her robot Wesley help him, secretly hoping that he can help them go back home. Takes place after the last episode of S1. Shiro/OC.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

That's a big star

The sun was setting on another long and boring day stuck on this unfamiliar planet. Ava was sitting at her desk, positioned in front of the make shift window that had formed when her ship crashed landed. It was a decent size and merged with the giant opening that was her doorway. The dangling red, blue and green wires swayed as the cool breeze began to pick up. Ava pulled her long brown hair up to help cool her sweaty neck. A notebook sat open in front of her.

She wanted to document her mission, now that she was the only one left she felt like she had to, but there really was nothing going on anymore. There were a few lines here and there about the new plants and animals that were discovered and what had happened to her and her crew to make this planet her new home. But besides that there really wasn't much else. Except maybe talking about Wesley, the robot Ava built after the crash. Except he did pretty much the same thing she did, nothing.

Luckily Ava began working on him while she and her team were on course for their mission. Ava tried to model him after the curiosity rover but with so little working parts after the crash she had to make some modifications. The white robot had a small black neck made up of a skinny rod and some wires and decent tracks that made him move easily in the sand. Westley also had a rectangular body with a storage area that could fit any of the edible vegetation they saw. His black claw like arms fit nicely into his body but she wished she had made them longer. He had one eye lens that took up most of his square head and a row of blue lights that were his mouth. She looked over to him and watched as he used his tiny arms tried to use a palm frawn as a broom, basically pushing the sand around.

Eventually she went back to the notebook and wrote "The useless robot has decided to clean the sand. I'm doomed to die here."

Looking back out the window Ava took in the different colors of the sunset as she thought about what else she could jot down. She twirled the pen in her fingers like a mini baton. As the sky began to turn into a deep purple she thought maybe she could draw out the new constellations she saw. She turned the page and began drawing the landscape in front of her. Ava was never really that great at drawing but at least it was better than helping the robot sweep up the sand.

She stared at the small cliffs that were in front of her window, using the pen to scratch down what she saw. Ava looked up in time to see a shooting star fly across the sky. She smiled and began closing her eyes.

A large booming sound made her open her eyes again. Something was falling towards the planet and it was huge. Ava jumped out of her seat and ran to the doorway. She stood watching it, whatever it was, fall. A few times she wondered if it was going to land on the spaceship that she turned into her new home. Finally, with another loud boom, it landed behind the trees to the right of her house. Ava shielded her eyes from the sand that was kicked up by the falling space craft.

Westley made a lot of angry whirs and beeps behind her and began sweeping around her feet. _The crash was pretty close by_ Ava thought to herself. She stared at the spot a few seconds more before running back into the spaceship.

"I'm going to see what that was." She told the robot grabbing her canteen and throwing on a jacket.

Wesley stopped his vigorous sweeping and looked back at her. He made a whir noise that sounded like "What?"

"I'll be fine I promise." Ava told the robot. Its head only came up to her knees so it was easy for her to step over his square body. "Stay here and wait for me. Get the med kit out just in case."

He followed her a short distance making all kinds of different beeps and whirs. As soon as she entered the forest he made a sad boop and stared at where she had disappeared.

It had been a while since Ava had ventured into the forest. The trees seemed so close together that the knotted roots took up most of the forest floor. The sky grew darker and the moonlight barely made it through the thick foliage above her. She might have to go the long way around the forest on her way back home.

Soon small pieces of bark and splinters littered the forest floor. She knew she was on the right track. The small pieces became logs, then branches and it made it harder for Ava to get over them. As she walked the crash site got closer and she could see that whatever had landed was huge and wasn't shaped like any spaceship she had ever seen.

She walked out to the new edge of the forest and was surprised at what she saw. The spaceship, if you want to call it that, destroyed the trees from the forest's original edge to about 20 feet back to where she was standing. The moon above her shone brightly on the ship before her. It was silver and black with two giant red wing like things sticking out of the back of it. Ava walked around the ship carefully trying to find a way inside.

As she made her way around she noticed the it had feet, claws and a face. Like a lion. Ava stared at it. The ship stared back with its yellow eyes. She didn't know how long she stood there. Did it act like an actual cat where you had to let it smell you before letting you inside?

"Holy shit." She breathed. Hesitantly Ava stepped towards it.

That's when the mouth of the lion shaped ship opened, making Ava jump 10 feet. She waited not knowing if she should walk in and investigate.

After deciding that knowing what is in there is better than not knowing Ava walked toward the mouth of the ship. She saw a hallway that led to deep into the ship and someone dressed in a black and white space suit slumped against the wall.

"Fuck." Ava whispered and climbed up the small incline to reach him. It was hard to see if he was breathing by just looking at him so she crouched down and held her hand in front of his nose. Waiting for the exhale of air to tickle her fingers. Thankfully he was breathing. "Alright let's get you out of here."

First she grabbed his left arm and tried to lift him up. That's when she saw a gash on his right side. It was like he was cut and electrocuted at the same time. There were three decently sized cuts that started at the bottom of his ribs and went at a downward angle towards his hip. Around the cuts looked like black scorch marks. It only took seconds for Ava to process what it was and rip off her windbreaker. She turned it inside out and tied it tightly around his waist. Hoping that it would at least help until she got back to the ship.

As she was tying the knot for the second time to help keep it secure she heard a sharp intake of breath. Ava looked up and locked eyes with the guy she was helping.

"I'm here to help." She told him gently, taking a step back to give him some space. "Can you walk ok?"

He took a minute to process the question and nodded.

"I'll take you to my place and fix you up there. It is a bit far and it might take a while because of the forest." Ava grabbed his other hand as she spoke, and noticed he had a robotic arm that reached to just above his elbow. She ignored it for now and helped him to his feet.

"I'm Ava by the way." She wrapped his metal arm around her neck. "What about you?"

"Shiro." He breathed

"It's going to be ok Shiro." She told him, knees shaking from the extra weight she carried. Slowly they made their way out of the Lion and back to her home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

You'll make it I swear

Following the edge of the forest and walking in the sand took longer than Ava expected. Shiro was slightly taller and heavier than her and the sand helped when he couldn't walk any more, as she could just drag him along beside her. They had to stop a few times, readjusting every few feet. But soon Ava could see her home shining brightly from the rising sun behind her. And as they got closer she could see her tiny robot making laps around the place they called home.

"We're almost there." She huffed. She wanted to stop and get some water from the canteen but realizing how close and how tired she was it really wasn't an option. Ava adjusted Shiro's arm again, trying not to notice as his face contorted in pain from the small movement. She was walking as fast as her tired legs could.

Westley had gathered the things Ava asked and now began worrying. He started making circles around their home to keep himself busy. Only stopping to look at the forest beside him. It was on his 53rd lap around did he notice something.

It was Ava and she was carrying someone else with her. They were only feet from where he was. Westley beeped excitedly and ran over to her. He was so excited he was making purring sounds and circling their feet, kicking up the sand around them.

"Westley stop please." Ava tried to walk over him as the robot circled around her once more. She was tired and sore from carrying Shiro back here. "If you don't stop now I will punt you across this field."

The robot slowed to a stop behind them. He made a few beeps and whistles.

"Yes I know your excited." She adjusted his arm once more as they made it past the doorway. "But circling my feet like that was not going to help either of us. Now go get the med kit and meet me by the bed."

The bed happened to be two thin twin sized mattresses held up by some of the biggest pieces that broke off during the crash landing. For what it was it made an adequate king sized bed. Ava sat down slowly and pulled Shiro gently down with her.

She first positioned him on her shoulder and fumbled with the big knot of the windbreaker. She was glad that it had held and had not needed to be retied or anything. After removing the jacket from his side she first took off his helmet and placed his head on the pillow. Then she got up and moved his feet so that he was lying down comfortably.

Something nudged her feet and Ava looked down to see Westley holding up a first aid kit in his tiny claw hands. She picked it up and opened it. The first thing she needed was something to clean the wound with.

"Where's the antiseptic?" She had gone through the kit twice making sure to pull out all the gauze and large bandages she could find. She threw in a few creams for the burns just in case. "Some rubbing alcohol? Peroxicite?"

Another nudge answered her and she looked down to find Westley holding a bottle of Vodka that was at least half way through.

"Where the hell did this come from?" Ava asked as she unscrewed the lid to the vodka. A series of beeps answered "The past 4 months have been an emergency!" She made a show of taking a big swig of the Vodka before splashing some on a rag and applying it to the unconscious man's wounds.

Cleaning the wound seemed to be the most difficult job. Even if she applied the rag as gently as she could to the gashes, Shiro cried out and tried to squirm away from her. It became a habit of mumbling how sorry she was after. As Ava was doing that her robot looked over at the counter and put some of the creams and ointments back in the first aid kit.

Ava wanted to remove the armor so she could change the shirt he was wearing beneath. She tried to wake him so that he could help her but the cleaning of his wound took a lot out of him. So instead she found the hem to the black shirt and lifted it gently. It was still red and sticky on the majority of his right side. Carefully she pulled and rolled the shirt up so that it showed most of his lower abdomen.

Blushing furiously Ava grabbed the gauze and some cream and began to dress his wound. She had to have him sit up again as that was the only way she could get the gauze all the way around his torso. Carefully she picked up his robotic arm and placed it around her shoulders again.

"Whas going on?" Shiro's half open eyes landed on Ava's face. He realized he was being forced to sit up again and tried to help the best he could.

"I need to dress your wound and unfortunately you have to be sitting up for that." Ava looked at him apologetically "I will be done soon though I promise. I may need you to help me take off…." She trailed off gesturing to his arms and chest.

Shiro nodded in understanding. He told her how to take off his bulky white armor. Ava worked quickly so that the gashes wouldn't start bleeding again. Carefully she placed each piece by the bed and removed the black undershirt. After applying the cream, she wrapped the gauze quickly three times around the wound. She cut and tied off the end and made sure it was tied securely. Westley rolled over with a shirt that she put Shiro into before laying him back on the bed.

It was done. This was the best she could do for him right now. She would have to redress the wound in another 4-6 hours and keep checking to see if he was breathing. A whole list began to form in her head about what she needed to do. Ava stuck her hand out and found the bottle of Vodka beside her. She took a big swig before calling Westley over to take it from her and hide it again.

That's when she noticed the bloody hand prints on the bottle. The blood wasn't just on her hands but also her clothes, the white pieces of armor that littered the floor around her, his shirt, the inside of the jacket. Ava tried rubbing it in the sand but that just made it worse. She got up quietly and went to the bathroom to clean up.

It had been lucky that the bathroom survived the crash. Ava tried not to use it too much though. It was just a pain in the ass to walk to the nearest lake to get more water. The water flowed from the faucet slowly and was always cold no matter which tap she turned on. For a while she watched as the blood was slowly erased from her hands into the white sink.

Once she was done Ava walked back to the bedroom area. The ship she had now called home now had always been tiny. The big hole that had become the entrance was supposed to be where the pilots sat but it broke off when coming to the planet. She was surprised that most of the ship had stayed intact.

She stood awkwardly and watched Shiro sleep. There were a few moments when his face looked like he was in pain. Opening the First aid kit again Ava began looking for the small bottle of Advil she saw earlier.

"If I had known that I was going to be the nurse on this damn trip I would have paid more attention in class." Ava said to no one in particular. Smiling to herself she finally found the small white and blue bottle and shook it.

It sounded like there were only a handful of the pills left. Her smile faded.

Quietly she set the pill bottle on the makeshift nightstand with the other medical supplies she had used that night. She glanced at the stranger in her bed. Should she wake him up again? Just to give him a few pills to ease the healing process?

No. No she was going to wait until he woke up on his own. He looked peaceful sleeping there on her bed. For a while she watched him. Watched him breathing in a steady rhythm. Watched as some of the white hair would twitch with every exhale.

"You'll be fine I swear." Ava whispered not only for him but for herself as well.

Hey guys I forgot to mention in the last chapter that I do not own anything but my OC's Ava and Westley. Hope you enjoyed these two chapters. I'm off to go work on chapter 3


	3. Chapter 3

Note: Thanks so much for the response guys!

Chapter 3

Kansas is long gone

It was the pain that woke him up. Shiro's eyes flashed open and he laid in the bed for a while trying to remember the nightmare. He was fighting the druid, Haggar. He only woke up because she got him with her claws on his right side below his ribs. It hurt so much and was hard to tell if it really was a dream. Carefully Shiro let his left hand make its way to where he got the wound. His fingers met with gauze.

So it wasn't a dream. His fingers played with the wrappings edge as he tried to remember what had happened.

He remembered going to Zarkon's ship to find Allura and rescue her, Voltron became separated and he almost lost the Black Lion to the Galra. That out of everything didn't sit well with him. He tried not to think about how that would affect piloting his Lion and forming Voltron. After finding a way onto the ship Shiro fought Haggar one on one. The fight that he just dreamt about. Thankfully Hunk and Allura came back for him. Then there was helping Keith from get away from Zarkon and then…he remembered being thrown from the castles hangar.

He remembered trying desperately to gain control of his Lion as it spun out of control in space. He remembered seeing Keith's red Lion falling with him for a while. The Black Lion crashing and someone there to help him, a… girl. Maybe it was Keith who had saved him. And Shiro just imagined Keith as a beautiful girl, Keith did have the hair for it. He laughed at the mental image that came but it was short lived. He twitched in pain and grabbed his right side reflexively.

Slowly he tried to sit up. It was difficult at first but eventually he found the perfect way to move without causing himself too much pain. Looking around Shiro tried to find out where he was but nothing stood out to him. But he was grateful it didn't look like any Galra ship. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement at the end of the bed. Looking over he saw a mess of brown hair and an elbow being used as a pillow. He watched as the hair monster moved again, pushing the brown locks out of the way of its face.

It was the girl who had helped him out of his Lion. Her face showed a look of relief and concern as she lifted her head off the bed. "You're awake." It sounded more like a question than a statement.

He didn't know how to respond to that so they both sat there awkwardly, watching as her chocolate eyes kept stealing glances at his robotic arm. "How long have I been out?" Sleep still heavy in his voice.

"About three days."

Three days? It's been three days since that battle. Three days since they all got separated.

As Shiro began mentally freaking out about where his team was and the worst case scenarios for everyone. Ava continued on, "You did wake up a lot, just screaming mostly. It wasn't until I forced you to take an Advil last night did you actually sleep."

"Was there another…" he asked, voice fading before he could finish the question.

Ava shook her head. "You were the only one in the…ship. And I didn't see or hear anything else land either."

As Shiro became consumed by his thoughts again Ava stared at his robotic arm. Watching as Shiro carefully pulled it through his white tuft of hair, fixing any of the knotted up strands. She felt terrible every time she stared, and hoped that it didn't make him uncomfortable. It was just so advanced from what she had worked on in the past. She desperately wanted to take it apart and put it back together again just to see how it works.

Shiro's eyes fell on her again and Ava's face reddened from being caught staring. She opened her mouth to apologize. To explain why she kept staring and erase the look of self-consciousness that played all over his face.

An excited beep came from behind Ava and they both looked over to the doorway to see Westley the robot. The lights that made up his mouth were all light up like he was smiling. Ava watched as the robot moved back a few inches and rolled full force towards the bed.

Ava realized too late what Westley was going to try to do. She flung her arm out, but it was too fast for her. And watched as it slammed face first into the bedframe.

"What the hell are you trying to do?!" Ava pulled the robot away from the bed, talking to it in hushed tones. Westley made a few beeps in response.

"Okay one, you are never allowed on the bed anyway. Two he just woke up and now you've basically scared the poor man. And now he thinks I'm crazy. So thanks for that." She glanced back at the him and the look on Shiro's face only confirmed it.

Ava tried to smile and reassure him everything thing was fine but his wide eyed expression remained. She turned back to the robot listening to its response before continuing "I know your excited but you got to calm down buddy. You're scaring him." Westley gave a small boop sound, spun its tracks and ran off back down the hallway.

"I'm really sorry about that. He gets excited very easily." Ava told Shiro, scratching at her arm nervously. She took a step or two towards the bed. "Are you hungry? I could make something really quick."

"Food sounds like an amazing idea."

Seeing as the bedroom was located at the end of the ship Ava decided to give a small tour as they made the short trip to the kitchen. When she pointed out the bathroom she told him he was welcome to take a shower while she got everything ready. She handed him fresh clothes, a towel and anything he needed to redress his wound before getting started on lunch. It wasn't until she put a pot on the small hot plate did she hear the sound of the shower turning on. Ava decided to make soup, not just because it was the only thing she ate now but mostly because most of the freeze dried packets were gone. There were a few of them still hidden somewhere. The ones she declared as her favorites and was saving them for a special occasion. But soup would be best to help build up Shiro's apatite again. She had been so engrossed with cooking that she almost didn't hear his voice coming from the doorway.

"Thank you."

Ava turned. He must have just gotten out of the shower because his hair was sopping wet and the longer white tuft stuck to parts of his face. The faded orange shirt and sweats she had given him were spotted with moisture, some parts clinging to some of the scars on his body. She of course wore the same outfit, but she had cut in a way to make it bearable in this planets intense heat. She played with the hemline of her own shirt as he continued.

"I just wanted to thank you for helping me out with this," Shiro blushed, gestured towards his lower hip and rib area. "Without you I probably wouldn't have made it."

"It's no problem." Ava muttered, almost making it sound like one word. She watched him towel his hair dry, his shirt raised a bit to show off Shiro's handy work with the wrappings around his waist. "You did a shit job on those bandages though."

He stopped, the towel covering most of his face, unsure if she was joking or not.

"But that's ok." She turned back to the soup, cursing herself for not having a witty comment to add. "If you want you can put the towel back in the bathroom and I can wash it later."

A few minutes later they were seated at a small fold out table that had been crammed into the corner. They sat across from each other, drinking the soup from the bowls. (Spoons are a luxury when you're stranded in the middle of nowhere she had told him.) Shiro was the one who broke the silence.

"So where'd the robot go?"

"Oh Westley went out to get more food. That's mostly one of the reasons why I built him." Ava blew on the soup before taking a sip. "That and to have someone to talk to I guess."

"You built him?" He sounded a bit surprised and she couldn't put her finger on as to why.

"Engineering with a minor in robotics." A smug smile crept onto her face and she continued "Gathering supplies is basically Westley's main job here."

"How long did it take you to build him?" Shiro sipped his soup cautiously, he wanted to know how long she had been out here. Maybe she started on it when she crashed.

"Well I started on him before the mission, worked on him during the trip to the unknown and after a few adjustments I had him up and running a month after crash landing here." Ava stared at her soup dreading the next question.

"What happened?" He said it so softly that she could have ignored it if she wanted to. Pretend that she never heard it and move on. She thought about answering it for a minute, wondering if she wanted to think about any of this again.

"If I tell you, you have to tell me how you ended up here."

Shiro shrugged his shoulders "Fine by me." And quickly finished off the rest of his lunch.

Ava thought about what she should tell him. How much information to leave him with. She took a deep breath and began, "I was part of a group of four, two scientists and a pilot, that went to go study the Oort Cloud. You know the giant circular mass of comets and space rock in the deep dark of space, lightyears beyond Kerberos." she tried not to notice his hand twitch after that last word "Well one of the scientists wanted to put a team together and try to see if those rocks were as old as the universe itself. And try to observe if any comets that came by."

"How was he going to date them?"

"He was going to get a bunch of different samples using Westley, who at that stage was supposed to have a jet pack and I'm kind of sad that I got rid of it. Then they were going to try to compare them to the many meteors in our asteroid belt. But something happend when we got there. something pulled us away from the cloud and we drifted off into space. We somehow managed to crash land here on this planet after being in space for at least 7 months. I remodeled and finished Westley using parts from the ship. And about four months later you and Toto showed up."

"Toto?" Shiro raised an eyebrow wondering who she was talking about.

"The thing you came here in."

"You named my Lion Toto?"

"It's black and its shaped like an animal what else was I supposed to call it?" Ava picked up the bowls and got up from the table. Signaling the end of the conversation.

"That can't be all to the story. There has to be more." Shiro watched her as she placed the two bowls into a bucket that was made to be the sink. It barely explained anything. How did she learn to survive out here? "You're telling me it was just you and Westley this whole time?"

Ava's smile fell and she began picking at her shirt again. It took a while before she finally spoke, "No there was at least… one other person here with us."

The tone of her voice suggested she didn't want to talk about it. She tried to hide her face as her chocolate eyes began to fill with tears. Since Shiro had yet to see this other person around, the story probably didn't end well, so he decided not to push further. A painful silence crept over the room once more.

Once both bowls had been cleaned Ava turned to him and announced "Ok, now it's your turn."

It took him a while to realize she had meant for him to tell his story. As he watched her make her way back to the table he thought about the story he would tell her. Should he start at Kerberos? Coming back to Earth? Finding and rescuing Allura? No that would just be confusing. "Where do you want me to start?"

"I always felt that the beginning is best." She teased

Shiro decided to skip with what happened with the Kerberos mission as he did not want to relive any of it ever again. He hated when the memories came to him while he slept so he really did not want to bring them up willingly. That meant skipping over his capture, fighting in the arena, and his escape. So he started with waking up in the Keith's tiny little house in the desert. How he met Lance, Pidge and Hunk, how they all found the Blue Lion ("Wait you're not the only one who flies an animal shaped ship in space?"), finding the Castle of Lions, Allura, Coran, each of the Paladins finding their own lion and finally ending with them fighting the Galra warship and turning into Voltron.

"So you're telling me that you and your four friends each have a ship shaped like a Lion that can eventually turn into a giant fighting Lion robot?"

He thought about it for a minute, "I probably wouldn't put it in those exact words but yeah basically."

"That is possibly the _best_ story I have ever heard." Ava looked down at Shiro's metal arm again. She had done a pretty decent job of pretending she didn't see it anymore but once he started telling her about helping Keith find his Lion it became a lot harder. "And that came before or after all of this?"

It took him a second before he said "Before."

That's how she figured there was more to the story than he had told. She understood that he wouldn't want to share that with her. She had things she didn't feel like telling him right now either. After taking a moment to process what she heard, there was something she had to ask. "When you were rescuing the prisoners how did you fight with it?"

To answer her all Shiro did was make his right hand into a fist. Soon a magenta light crawled up his arm, starting from his fist and working its way up to his elbow. Once the light faded he opened his fist. His hand from his finger tips to his wrist glowed that same magenta color and his fingers were pointed like his whole hand was a blade. Ava stared in wonder letting his hand bath her in a purple light. She grabbed his arm and carefully turned it to look at all of its sides.

"Can I throw a potato at you?"

Too stunned to say answer, all Shiro could do was stare at her with a look of "what did you just ask?" He watched as Ava got up quickly and grabbed a potato from the counter on the opposite side of the tiny kitchen. It wasn't until she threw it at him did he register what she had said to him.

One potato became two, then three and before they knew it, it became a game of how long could Shiro keep slicing up the vegetables being thrown at him from across the room.

Westley made it to the kitchen doorway and stopped as it took in the scene. Potatoes and carrots littered the floor around them and Ava kept throwing more at Shiro, laughing as she did. Shiro cut each one with accuracy. Slowly Westley backed up, turned around and left the kitchen to go find his palm frawn broom to help clean up.

Authors Note: If you would like to learn more about the Oort cloud here is a link! /oort-cloud/

I gave Westley "it/they" pronouns to keep it easier in the long run.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

And I'm itching to go

The sun was setting and turning the sky into a nice shade of pink and orange. Ava was at her desk again trying to capture the events of the day. The desk never came with the ship. She had made it, with help from the other surviving crewmate. It was made from two small lockers that came up to her mid-thigh, they made up the legs, and the top was a long piece of metal that came off the ship. The lockers used to hang where the giant gap was by the entrance. There were originally a total of four. One was torn off when the front of the ship exploded and flew off in pieces. The second was being used as her nightstand by the bed. The final one was the other leg to the desk, it belonged to the other crewmate who had survived the crash. For what it was it worked pretty well.

Writing became very relaxing over the past couple of months, helping keep her mind off the events to Ava being here alone. Since Shiro's arrival she had written more from the past three days then she ever did in the last 4 months she had been stranded on this stupid planet. She turned the page, crossing the notebooks halfway point. It was becoming increasingly hard for her hand to catch up with her thoughts as she tried to keep her handwriting neat.

She was almost done, getting to the part about flinging potatoes at Shiro's robot arm. Looking back at what had happed she felt stupid and embarrassed. She didn't know why she had done it. Maybe she had to see how Shiro fought with his robotic arm or see how the arm itself worked. But it only resulted in wasted potatoes and a terrible dinner. Ava tried not to think about it too much as she continued writing.

"I want you to take me to my Lion."

His voice startled her. Ava stopped writing and turned towards the doorway to look at Shiro. He was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

"No."

"I can't stay here." He tried not to get angry over her outright refusal. "I need to find Keith and get back to the Castle."

"I understand that. But you are in no condition to go anywhere." Ava gestured to his side and continued "You only woke up 6 hours ago and your wound is nowhere near healed enough. You wouldn't last five minutes in a fight. The crash site is about three miles from here and I don't want to drag you back here when you can't make it."

She went back to her notebook, signaling the end of their conversation. For a while the only sounds they heard was the scratching of the pen and Westley's tracks as he made his way around the broken ship.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing."

It took a while for Ava to respond to him. She understood how he felt, that's why she tried to find something to write about in the journal at least once every few days. It helped keep away the feeling of uselessness and boredom that made a permanent home inside her head since she crashed here.

"Fine I'll take you." Ava looked out the giant hole in the ship towards to the sky. What was once orange and pink soon began to take on a dark purple color. The small sliver of the moon was waiting in the sky for the sun to finally set. "There won't be much light out tonight so we'll have to go tomorrow. And if you really want to leave you have to put on that stupid armor by yourself."

"Fine." Shiro carefully removed himself from the wall and made his way back to the bedroom. Ava listened to his retreating footsteps as she finished the last few sentences.

Once she was done Ava closed the journal and threw it into the open locker that made up the right leg of the desk. For a while she sat there and fiddled with the rotating lock watching the sun set completely.

Shiro had been lying in bed for the past hour trying to get to sleep. He didn't know if it was more because he had slept for a total of 48 hours the days before or because it had become increasingly hard to find a comfortable position. Any pressure that he put on his right side came back with a sharp pain. Frustrated, Shiro lay flat on his back and closed his eyes. Only to throw off the thin covers to the other side of the bed. The cool breeze soon gave him goose bumps on his arms and legs. After a while he pulled the covers back over his legs, a groan of frustration escaping his lips.

"Just take an Advil." Ava's sleepy voice told him.

Quickly Shiro sat up and instantly regretted it. He clutched his side and looked around the dark room to see if he could find her. He checked the left side of the bed to make sure he hadn't been kicking her by accident.

"Ava? Where are you?" his voice was barely above a whisper.

"By the door."

"Why?" He squinted to where he thought the door would be, looking for any indication she was over there.

"Because I was making sure that you didn't try to sneak out to go to your stupid ship." Ava pulled her legs to her chest as annoyance began to replace the sleepiness in her voice. "That and you have the bed. Now take a fucking Advil so that I can go to sleep. Every time you move you make the bed creak."

"I'm not going to sneak out. Wait…what do you mean 'I have the bed'?"

"I mean that you need the bed to recover from your stupid injury. So I've taken to sleeping on the floor for the last 3 days. Besides by this time tomorrow you'll be gone anyway and it will be mine again. So don't worry about it."

"Ava come to bed. There's plenty of room for the both of us." Shiro hated it when Pidge slept in random places around the castle, so he wasn't going to let Ava do it too. He waited, listening for any sounds of movement.

He was about to get up and drag her to the bed if he had to when he heard a frustrated groan. Soon there came sounds of someone dragging their feet through soft sand on top of metal. There was a _thunk_ sound, the bed shifted a bit, a string of curses soon followed. Ava moved her hands around the bed to make sure she was not about to fall right on top of him. And fell awkwardly into the bed.

Once she got settled Shiro grabbed the pill bottle and canteen from the nightstand next to him. He shook it to make sure there were still some in the bottle and placed the items back on the nightstand after he finished. After adjusting the blankets around his waist once more, Shiro lay flat on his back, eyes closed, trying to clear his mind so he could sleep.

"Would it sound really weird if I asked you to tell me a story right now?"

Shiro looked over to her and it was hard for him to tell if she was facing him or not. There was no window in this part of the ship for any light to come through. He turned himself to face her before answering. "Can't sleep?"

There was a sound of Ava shaking her head on the pillow and then realizing he couldn't see her, she said "There are too many…distractions right now."

"A lot of the stories I have probably won't help you sleep."

"That's ok."

So he told her of the party with the Arusians, how Pidge wanted to leave the Paladins and how Sendak took over the castle. It wasn't until he got to the fight against him and Sendak did Shiro hear soft snores coming from the other side of the bed. When he was talking the Advil had finally kicked in and it didn't take long for Shiro to fall asleep too.

When Shiro woke up the early morning sunlight was slowly inching its way through the narrow hallway into the bedroom. He had been laying on his left side the whole night leaving it feeling numb and uncomfortable. But when he tried to roll on his back but something pulled on his shirt.

Looking over he saw that Ava was curled up next to him, his left arm was draped around her and Ava's left hand clutched his orange shirt. He stared at her, silently thinking about how to get up without disturbing her. Carefully Shiro lifted her head to remove his arm but once he freed himself Ava let go of him, turning away from him once her head hit the pillow.

It took him a while to change the dressings to his injury. His armor was laid out in a corner of the room. Getting ready was a lot harder than Shiro had anticipated. He was having trouble getting his arm through any of the sleeves. But he took his time and by the time he was ready to go the sunlight shone brightly all over the room. He looked over to the bed to see Ava still sleeping. Secretly he had hoped for her to wake up on her own and help him dress. But there she was still sleeping.

"Ava? Ava wake up." Shiro spoke softly and gave a gentle push to her shoulder.

It took a few shakes before Ava opened her eyes. "What's going on?"

After blinking the sleep from her eyes she realized what he was wearing. "You wanna go now?" she asked stifling in a yawn.

"Please." Shiro realized that maybe he should have waited for her to wake up on her own. But the quicker they got moving the quicker he could be out there finding Keith and the others.

She sat up and pulled her messy brown hair into a pony tail. "Fine just let me get ready."

Author's Note: I just want to let you all know that I'm starting my job next week and I might not be posting weekly as much but I will try to work on it on the weekends. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hello old friend

The sun was so bright that once Ava stepped outside she put her hand up to shield her eyes. She looked around for Shiro, finding him by the entrance to the forest to the right of the ship and marched angrily towards him. He was so impatient. He hovered around her no matter what she did. Ava got so sick of it that she barely finished getting her boots on before kicking him out, telling him to wait outside for her. She was not looking forward to this at all.

When she finally caught up with him Ava pulled out her breakfast. A weird alien fruit that had reminded her of Dragon Fruit from Earth but it was a yellow color inside and had far less tiny black seeds. She nudged the Black Paladin and offered some. Shiro shook his head before going back to staring out to the trees. Once Ava finished her breakfast she dropped the skin to the ground.

"Are you ready?" Shiro asked as Ava wiped her hands clean on her shorts.

"Not really. But I know you are so let's go." Her voice dripped with annoyance and she ignored the face he made at her. Ava didn't care that he wanted to leave but he couldn't have just waited a few more hours?

"The best way for us to get there would probably to cut around the woods." She continued, gesturing to her left.

"Can't we go through?"

Ava shook her head. "We could but there's too much debris on the ground, especially as we get closer to your ship. And in your condition we would not get very far without having to turn back around."

"We'll try it anyway." Shiro told her and walked into the woods, with a determined look on his face.

She watched him go for a bit before calling out "Wait you don't know where it is!" and running to keep up with him.

As they both walked through the woods it dawned on Ava why she never went outside that much, it was hot as hell. The sun had only been up for a few hours, not even at the highest point in the sky yet and she already wanted to turn back. And the worst part was that they weren't even half way there. She paused for a minute to drink from the canteen. When she finished she turned to offer some to Shiro.

If she was hot Ava could only imagine how bad Shiro was feeling. She watched him as he took the canteen from her hand and take a drink. He looked tired already. The trees may have provided some shade from the sun but walking in head to toe black with a terrible injury could not be easy.

"Do you want to stop and take a break maybe?" She offered, gesturing towards a shady area.

The paladin only shook his head and kept walking, handing off the canteen as he passed.

The gap between them began to grow as the forest floor became more hazardous to walk on. The broken pieces of trees were starting to appear and became much more frequent. "We're getting close!" She called back to him, wiping the sweat from her brow. She tried to sound optimistic. Hoping that if she fibbed a bit Shiro would catch up with her again.

When there was no response Ava turned to face him. Shiro was hobbling along behind her clutching his side, paler than she had ever seen him. Her eyes grew wide and made her way over to him.

"Shiro! What's wrong?"

"It's nothing I'm fine." He huffed out. His breathing was heavy and he tried to move past her but a sharp pain from his side made him stop. The only thing he could do was lean against the nearest tree.

Ava wanted to laugh at him. Tell him that she was right and that he wasn't ready to make a trip like this. But she kept her mouth shut, now was not the time for that. She looked around them for the shadiest spot and found it behind them.

"Stay here." She told him as she started clearing a path for him to easily get through.

After she pushed around a good amount of the debris Ava went back to Shiro and carefully places his metal arm around her head. It was a much better experience moving him this time as he was still conscious for the whole thing. She placed him at the base of a big tree, making sure that he was comfortable before crouching down next to him.

Carefully she removed his helmet and placed it next to him. "I told you that you weren't ready for this." Ava handed him the canteen, there wasn't that much left now about a quarter of water still remained.

"How long have you been waiting to say that?" Shiro avoided her eyes as he drank from the canteen.

"Oh since I noticed you falling behind back there." Ava said adding a smile at the end to let him know she was only teasing. "Don't feel too bad you made it much farther than I thought you would."

"How far away are we?"

Ava looked around them and thought about the night she found him. "Probably a little less than half way there."

Shiro groaned in frustration and placed his head in his hands. He wanted to keep walking. He hated being stuck here and it had only been a few days. "You just said we were close."

"I thought it would help keep you going!" Ava said. She picked up the canteen from his loose grip and shook it. There was not even a sip left. With a sigh she pushed herself to her feet. "I'll be back. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

"What?" His head snapped up "Where are you going?"

"Back to the ship." She said matter of factly "We're going to need more water if I have to drag you back home."

"What about Westley? Can't it come meet us here with some water?"

"Westley never comes out this far. Plus, even if he did there would be no way to communicate to him what we need." Ava's expression turned thoughtful as she began thinking about the materials needed for that type of upgrade.

Shiro opened his mouth again but Ava talked over him. "Look you will be fine. You scared off most of the crazy wildlife when you crashed your ship here. And so far it seems like they haven't returned yet. So nothing will attack or eat you while I'm gone. Just stay here and don't move. I promise you that I will come back."

She reached for his hand that was laying on top of his right knee to give him a reassuring squeeze but thought better of it. So her hand hung awkwardly between them for a moment before she set off back to the ship.

Shiro tried many times to close his eyes and take a nap. But no matter how hard he tried he just did not feel safe where he was. Ava did reassure him that there was nothing dangerous out where he was before she left. But whenever he closed his eyes Shiro would feel this uneasy feeling in the back of his mind and he'd wake up again.

He wondered how long she had been gone for. The sun was high in the sky now so it could only have been an hour since they both left together. Shiro tried one last time to sleep, closing his eyes and tried to keep his breathing even.

"How pathetic."

Shiro's eyes shot open. Standing above him the dark version of himself that Haggar had summoned during his last fight. He looked the same as Shiro but he was dressed in the Galra prison uniform, glowing yellow eyes replaced his own dark brown and a grin was plastered on his face.

"The new Black Paladin, who was never that great to begin with, can't make it even a few feet before collapsing on the ground. The Black Paladin is supposed to be a hero. The best of all the Lions and yet here you are. Alone."

Panic showed all over Shiro's face. Was the Galra here? Is that why Ava was taking so long coming back? Did they take her too? If they did it was all because she decided to help him. He hoped that this was all in his head.

"What's wrong Shiro?" He was crouched in front of him now. It was weird to hear his own voice talk to him even if it was mixed with Haggars. Suddenly there is a sharp pain coming from his side. "Why won't you talk to me?"

"Get out of here!" Shiro growled back, his Galra arm gripped the Kuro Shiros arm tightly pushing it away from his injury. There was a scream but it sounded far away and it only made his grip tighter.

"Shiro! Stop!"

Her voice was a slap to the face waking him up from the weird trance he was in. His grip on Ava's arm loosened and he watched as she quickly moved away from him. She looked frightened of him but she still held out the canteen either for him to take or to use as a weapon.

"Ava…"

"Let's just go back Shiro. Get out of the sun for a while." Her voice cracked a few times letting the new fear of him show.

Shiro debated if he should ask for her help but thought better of it. So he carefully got himself up off the ground by himself, making sure to grab his helmet before turning back to the broken ship.

As soon as they stepped through the doorway to the Shiro began to throw pieces of his armor across the room. His helmet by the front door, his gauntlets at different ends of the small hallway. It wasn't until he got to the bedroom did he try to take off his chest plate. Ava stood in the bedroom doorway, unsure if she should follow him in. It wasn't until she saw Shiro struggling to get the chest plate over his head did she make up her mind.

"Here let me help you." Cautiously Ava walked towards him "Just sit on the bed."

For a minute Shiro stared at her. Unsure if she was still mad at him about what had happened in the woods. The top of Ava's head came up only to his nose. But it would be difficult to help him undress with him standing over her, especially in the small room, so he eventually sat down. Shiro still felt terrible about what had happened earlier that he couldn't meet her eyes. He looked behind her or to the floor at his feet. He felt her fingers trace one of the scars on his back as she worked on taking off his undershirt, carefully so not to make the hole on his right side any bigger.

"Well it doesn't look like you opened your wound up again." Ava sat in front of him and played with the wrappings around his waist. "Maybe we should unwrap it and check just to be sure."

Her chocolate brown eyes finally meet his. Ava tried to read his face to see if anything she was saying was breaking through. He just sat there staring at his feet. Maybe she should go. Let him sort out whatever was going on inside his head by himself. She got up slowly announcing "Maybe after I take a shower we can unwrap it and see."

She stood in front of him waiting for him to at least acknowledge that she was here.

After a few minutes she got frustrated and turned to leave. But as she turned Ava felt Shiro grab her wrist. She flinched expecting the cold bite of metal on her skin and the tight squeeze of his robotic hand but it never came. This was different. His touch was gentle with his grip loose. Ava looked back at him.

"I'm sorry Ava. I didn't mean to…I never meant to…" Shiro's voice faded off as he tried to find the right words to say, to try and make it better.

His grip loosened but she caught his hand in hers. She wanted to tell him it was ok but she knew that it wasn't. "I know." She squeezed his hand before letting go. "I'm going to go take a shower. Are you going to be ok by yourself?"

Ava watched as he slowly nodded his head. It took a while for her to leave as she wanted to make sure he really was ok. In the shower she thought about what he might have been thinking that made Shiro act that way. And when she left the bathroom Ava peeked back into the bedroom. Finding him in the same spot still looking at the floor.

She wanted to go over and comfort him. But she also knew that he could take of himself so if he really needed her, Shiro could always get up and look. After a few steps down the hallway she opened a door that no one ever went into and started looking for parts for Westley's new upgrade.

Ava was in the main room working at the small desk, her back to the hallway, when she finally heard Shiro walk in. She tried not to make it seem like he bothered her by not looking at him and concentrating on the work in front of her. Only glancing his way when he finally settled himself against the wall beside her. He was still wearing the black shirt and the bottom part of his armor. The look on his face made it seem like it took a lot of effort just to make it over here.

"You doing any better over there?"

"A bit." Shiro took to staring at a spot outside the door now.

"Everything ok with…" She used one of the tools she had been using to point to his right side.

"No. But that's to be expected."

Ava looked back at him frowning, if there was something wrong with him he'd tell her right? "You wanna tell me what happened back in the woods?"

"It's kind of a long story." He sighed

"Most of yours are." She smiled at him and placed the tools in her hands on the desk.

"What's that you're working on?" It was the most he had said since they got back and Ava was determined to keep him talking.

"Oh this? It's just some silly upgrade for Westley. Nothing really important." A loud beep, sounding quite offended came from somewhere in the ship. Ava repositioned herself in the chair so that the back was up against left side of her body and that she faced Shiro. She quietly waited for him to start.

Shiro took a deep breath and said "I don't remember much of the beginning but I can tell you what I do know." He talked for what seemed like hours about his imprisonment, saving Matt Holt and fighting in the arena, becoming Campion and escaping. He noticed her staring at his Galra arm more frequently now even though she tried to hide it. Then he launched into the story about his last mission before landing here. Shiro only got a few sentences out before Ava called out.

"Wait, wait you never finished the story from the other night."

Shiro thought back "Oh that? We basically defeated Sendak, found a new crystal for the Castle and saved an entire planet. But that's more of Hunk's story to tell." He shrugged his shoulders and continued on. Ignoring the offended look Ava shot him, jokingly of course, that he wouldn't finish last night's story. But as he continued on she eventually got over it and listened. He told her about Allura getting captured and the plan to go save her. How he was forced out of his lion by Zarkon, found his way inside and fought Haggar.

"She turned into me. Except I had glowing yellow eyes." Shiro stopped as panic began to set in again. He didn't want him to show up again or ever for that matter.

"Hey its ok." Ava was somehow beside him now and he wasn't sure when that happened. She hesitated a bit before gently touching his arm. She wasn't sure what to say to him but she sat with him until his breathing became even again.

For a while they both sat there in silence waiting for this to pass. "So the…Galra version of you showed up while you were waiting for me to get back?" Ava asked finally

"Yes."

Ava nodded, understanding now why he had attacked her earlier. "That still doesn't explain how you got here."

"A wormhole I think." Shiro's gaze was thoughtful as he stared out the doorway again. The sun was finally setting on this awful day. Another silence passed between them again.

"Well I'm going to go make something for dinner." Ava carefully got up from the floor and brushed the sand off of her legs. "Any requests?

"Macaroni and Cheese." Shiro answered smiling.

"Good luck with that one." She laughed making her way out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Misguided Ghosts Part 1

Over the next week routines began to fall into place. Shiro would always wake up early, just as the sun was coming up. There were a few days where he would still be in bed trying to remember the nightmare that woke him. And sometimes he would think about finding his team and where they could possibly be. He had gotten used to waking up with Ava beside him, sometimes he would wake up with his arm around her waist. He would only to stay for a few minutes before getting up to start his day.

After getting out of bed Shiro would begin his morning workout stretching his legs and arms; doing crunches; pushups and planks. Then he would grab more water from a nearby stream to fill the water tank that ran the bathroom. When he came back Shiro would then change the wrappings to his injury, which was slowly healing, and enjoyed a nice breakfast with Ava.

Usually during the day, they spent their time differently. Ava might sit in the front room to work on improving Westley and Shiro would spend his time reading a book she had thrown at him after getting annoyed with him one afternoon. Sometimes he would try to make the walk to his Lion. The Paladin offered many times for Ava to join him but she would always decline. They would always come back together to eat though. Here they would tell each other stories. He soon learned that Ava was the baby of her family with two older brothers who did nothing but torment her. Growing up she felt left out at times and decided to join the Garrison to persue her passion of Robotics. She told him stories of all her failed experiments and how Westley did nothing but get lost after the first few weeks after making him. How she had found him broken down one day, twenty feet away from the ship and had no food to show for his efforts. Shiro would tell her stories about growing up with Keith as his adaptive brother, all the pranks that were pulled during his time at the Garrison and stories of the Paladins. Though he never spoke of his time as a Galra prisoner again and thankfully Ava never asked.

But today was different. Today when Shiro woke up there was no sleeping brunette next to him. He moved his hand to her side of the bed finding no lingering warmth so she must have gotten up a while ago. He stayed in bed longer than normal trying to see if he could hear her moving around in another room.

When didn't hear anything he finally got up to make sure to check every room in the small broken ship. He could feel his stomach twist uncomfortably with each room. He was able to find Westley hanging out by the entrance, staring out into the distance.

"You don't happen to know where Ava went to?" the Black Paladin asked. The robot made only a series of beeps and whirs that he didn't understand. Westley tried again trying the make its beeps longer as if it was talking slowly. The confused look on Shiro's only confirmed that he still didn't understand what Westley had said and finally the robot just pointed to the left of the ship.

There was just sand for miles. The only sign that the robot was right were footprints as far as the eye could see. Westley watched Shiro as he turned back inside the house. After a few minutes he came back, canteen in hand and his Paladin boots over the grey sweats Ava had given him. Leaving Westley to watch all alone at the entrance, making a small beep for goodbye.

The sand was endless. It was hard to know how long he had been walking. Had it been an hour? Thirty minutes? All Shiro knew was that when he looked back towards the ship he was currently calling home it was much harder to see. Eventually Ava's footprints lead him to a small forest. There were no more prints showing the way anymore. The forest's floor seemed much different than the one he went through the other day to get to his Lion. There weren't any thick roots to trip him up or bother his side as he walked. But Shiro was still hesitant. He was unsure where to go next. If he kept going straight would he be able to find Ava? How would he know if she turned in a different direction once he got in there?

It took a while for the Paladin to argue the pros and cons of which direction he should take before finally settling on going straight through the woods. He wouldn't turn left or right and if he could not find Ava before hitting the other side of the woods he would turn back. It was the best solution to his problem and he hoped that she thought the same way. He made sure to drink some water from the canteen before heading into the woods to continue his search.

Even though the forest floor was a lot smoother, there were still hanging vines blocking his path from time to time. Shiro began to tie some of the vines to the nearest tree to help him find his way back when he decided it was time to turn around.

He had at least expected to see Ava through the small trees before he got to the edge of the woods. Instead there was a small pond in front of him with some small bit of grass between it and the forest. Shiro didn't know where to go next. There was nothing around to help him that he could see. He looked to his left, eyes squinting but couldn't quite make anything out and then looked over to his right. Again he thought of the best path to take before ultimately letting the fates decide.

Starting at his right he pointed to each direction as he sang eeny meeny miny moe to himself, pointing to either direction after each word. At the end of the song Shiro was pointing to his left and soon set off.

It did not take long to finally find Ava. She was sitting where the soft grass of the forest met the bank of the pond before her. Her knees were pulled up to her chest just staring out into the distance.

"Ava." Shiro was so relieved to know she was safe that he jogged the rest of the way towards her. A weird feeling that he had since waking up had finally disappeared. But she didn't seem to acknowledge he was here. She just kept staring out towards the pond in front of her.

"Ava," he said again kneeling down beside her.

Again she just stared out. Her hair was still messy from sleep and the laces to her boots were left untied. Like she was in a rush to get here as fast as she could just so she could sit. Gently Shiro put his hand on her shoulder.

That got her attention. Ava moved her head slightly in his direction. It was like flipping on a switch and suddenly her eyes came into focus. They looked red and puffy like she had been crying. "Shiro…what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't find you and I was worried."

"You… were worried?"

"Yes." He smiled, hand moving on its own from her shoulder to brush away a few stray hairs from her face. That small gesture scared her, eyes getting as big as saucers. Quickly she turned her head away from him.

"Go." She finally croaked with tears falling down her face.

Shiro's left hand was still hovering in the air. He was unsure of what to do. Should he listen to her and just leave her here by herself? Should he try to say something to make her come back home? He opened his mouth but she cut him off.

"Please. Just…go."

The Paladin sat there for a minute before finally standing up. He dropped the canteen next to her. His fingertips brushed Ava's shoulder as he turned to leave. She looked as if she didn't even notice that he left.

When Shiro returned to the ship it was starting to rain. He helped Westley put up tarp around the giant gaping hole by the desk as it rained harder with each passing minute. Secretly he wanted to go back and force Ava to come back home. But if she wanted to be stuck outside in the rain that was her problem.

The rain was falling faster now and the wind began to push inside. Lighting flashed every few minutes providing the only light in the tiny broken down ship. Shiro stood far enough from the door way so that he wouldn't be getting soaked but he could still look out. He wondered if Ava was ok. Hoped that she had found shelter to keep herself safe from the storm. Thought about going back out in the storm to go look for her.

He soon saw a dark figure come into view making its way towards them. That had to be her, there was no one else for miles. Shiro watched her, standing a little straighter, as she tried to run in the slick mud.

It happened so fast he almost missed it. There was a bright flash of light several feet beside Ava. Her feet slipped and she fell face first to the ground. The clap of thunder that proceeded was deafening. Shiro stood there for a second before running towards her.

Ava thought she heard her name but it was hard to tell with all the ringing in her ears. She tried to stand up but her knees shook so bad that she collapsed back into the mud again. The rain was still coming down hard. She had been running since the rain woke her from the crazy daze she was in back at the lake. She had no energy left to get back up. She didn't know how long she was sitting there, was it minutes? Hours? It became hard to tell. Eventually Ava felt her arms move on their own, wrapping around something and then pressure under her knees and lower back as she was lifted into the air. They were telling her something but she couldn't make out the words.

Eventually Ava didn't feel the constant rhythm of the rain pelt her body but it was replaced by goosebumps and uncontrollable shaking. There was a soft murmur by her ear but she was only able to make out one word: stand. No. There was no way she could possibly stand up on her own. Not without collapsing back on to the floor. She tried to open her mouth to speak but the only sound that came out was her chattering teeth so she shook her head.

They were on the move again towards the bedroom. Shiro placed her gently on the bed, making sure Ava could support herself sitting up.

"The light." She croaked at him once she was settled. The storm was still raging on and although the lightning still flashed in the distance, it hardly made a difference in the dark room. "It's… behind you by the door." Shiro turned slightly and let his hand slide on the wall in search for the switch.

Once he flipped the switch it took a while for the lights to come on. When they did it seemed like they were about to go out at any minute. But at least now they could see each other and move around without bumping into the bed. Shiro stepped out of the room, coming back a short time later holding a towel and placed it around her shoulders. It didn't help much as she still shook from the cold breeze coming in from the front of the ruined ship.

"Do you have any other clothes to change into?" He asked kneeling in front of her, left hand placed gently on her knee. Shiro raked his metal hand through his hair to get it out of his face.

Ava shook her head no. The only other set of clothes she had found was what he was wearing. "You c-c-could look but I think you are wearing the only other one."

Shiro looked down at his own wet clothes and made a face. "I'll look for something for you. And get you something to eat."

She opened her mouth to protest. To tell him she was fine and that he did not need to do this but once she opened her mouth her teeth started chattering again. She made sure the towel was wrapped tightly around her and closed her mouth.

It was a while before Shiro came back into the room. He handed her a small bowl of soup and left again. Ava let the warmth spread to her hands before taking a small sip. As she ate she could her a few loud bangs coming from different areas around the ship.

By the time he came back the Paladin had nothing to show for his efforts. He had changed out of his own wet clothes and into his paladin outfit without the armor. He looked to the other side of the bed, something catching his eye.

"Is there anything in there?" He asked nodding to the locker that was being used as a nightstand.

Ava stared at it for a moment before answering. "I'm not sure. That belonged to Margie, one of the pilots. It hasn't been opened since…" she trailed off unable to finished her thought.

"It doesn't hurt to try and see what's in there." Shiro quickly made his way across the room and knelt by the small locker. He stared the words 'M. Bernstein' that were etched into the metal before trying the lock. Of course it did not open. He squeezed his metal hand making the magenta glow appear once more and cut out the door with his hand.

When he got back to his starting point Shiro carefully removed the lockers door placing it against the wall. He squeezed his hand again and the magenta light faded away. Carefully he riffled trough the locker for anything Ava could wear.

Secretly Ava knew that there was nothing in there for her. She remembered that she had to bury Margie in what she was wearing, which happened to be the Orange shirt and grey sweats they all wore while they were on the space ship. And if he was able to find something for her to change into there was no way it was going to fit her. Margie had been a size or two smaller than she was when they started this mission. So no matter what she was stuck in the wet clothes she had on.

"Finally!"

Ava whipped her head over to look at the Black Paladin. He was holding up a purple button up shirt with a wide grin on his face. She felt her ears get hot and looked away.

"It probably won't fit me." Ava told him. She remembered Margie wearing it under the space suit when they launched. She told them it was her lucky shirt. _Didn't do much for her though_ Ava thought and pulled the towel around her tighter as a chill ran down her spine.

"Just try it on. I also found these too." Shiro was still smiling when he handed her the shirt and a pair of black pants.

She took the clothes from him begrudgingly. It took her a while but she eventually got up from the bed on her own and headed to the bathroom. Once inside Ava ripped off the soaked towel and tank top she had on and made sure to place it in the sink to try and keep it clean. As she changed Ava noticed that even after eating the soup her skin still felt cold to her touch. Secretly she wished to take a long hot shower but that was never going to happen while she was stuck here.

When she finished changing she picked at her outfit making sure that it did fit and it wasn't just her imagination. The shirt didn't feel as tight as Ava thought it would, which surprised her. Maybe she had lost a bit of weight after crashing here. But it still felt weird to wear a dead girl's clothes.

But not just any girl a girl she knew, a girl she worked with, laughed with and spent many months floating out in space with. She knew her name and what she looked like. Suddenly she imagined Margie wearing her purple button down shirt walking around the spaceship, her long brown curls pulled into a messy bun at the top of her head. She was staring at the screen of the tablet in her hands. Her eyebrows knitted together in worry as she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. She was trying to say something but Ava couldn't hear her. The floor shook beneath them and a siren was going off somewhere.

There was a knock at the bathroom door. "Is everything okay in there?" Shiro asked, voice muffled by the door.

Ava was leaning over the sink. Her knuckles turned white from how tightly she was holding on. It took her a minute to realize what happened. "Y-yea…everything's fine." She made sure to compose herself before she opened the door.

Ava watched as the scar on the Paladin's face turn a darker pink. She tried to think of something funny to say about that but a small throbbing in her head distracted her.

"Are you going to tell me what today was all about?" Shiro's voice was concerned, his hand hesitated inches from her face before settling on her shoulder.

Ava's cheeks flushed from embarrassment and she started to play with the shirt's hem. It felt weird as it was much lower than the one she made to the orange tank she usually wore. "Yea I guess. But do you mind if I lay down for a bit? My head…." Her hand slowly lifted to her head as her voice trailed off.

"Of course." And soon Ava was following him down the narrow hallway with dread filling her stomach.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Misguided Ghosts Part 2

Ava sat on the bed with Shiro to her right. She wanted to rest and lay down just for a few minutes. But deep down she knew that once she laid down and closed her eyes she wouldn't be able to get up. The low hum of lights above them was the only sound in the room. The storm had stopped a while ago and neither one of them wanted to sit in the dark. She took a sip of water from the glass on the nightstand, avoiding Shiro's curious gaze. She had promised to tell him what had happened, why she had disappeared this morning.

"Now in order to tell you what happened to me this morning I feel that it is only appropriate to let you know how I got here."

"Someone once told me that the beginning was always the best place to start." He gave her an encouraging smile but it fell when she didn't return it. "Take your time, there's no rush."

She carefully set the water back on the nightstand. With a deep breath she began to tell her story. "Well, you know that we were traveling to the Oort cloud and that there were four of us on the ship." Now that the glass was out of Ava's hands she began to play at the edges of the button up shirt. "Margie was one of the pilots along with Tyreese. Then there was me and one other scientist, Robert. And we were kind of...dating."

Ava didn't know why she was blushing at this but she took another sip of water before continuing. "We had made it to the Cloud safely but there was a rogue asteroid that hit us so hard we were shot off course. It was so dark neither one of the pilots could find the way back. So we began to float aimlessly in space. We were stranded for a little less than a month before this planets gravity pulled the ship in.

"The cockpit had come off before the rest of the it hit the ground. It landed about 50 yards that way." She pointed behind her. "Past the small river. We were hiding in the bathroom when we were falling. I made it out with a large cut on my forearm. Robert had a few scrapes and a broken ankle. Neither one of us knew where Margie and Tyreese were. And because of the severity of Roberts injury, I was sent to go look for them alone. It took me three days.

"The smell is what I remember the most. There was a lot of blood. It made Margie's curls stick to her face. I tried to bury them but…I only had my hands. Luckily the sand around here is soft enough, but I knew the hole wouldn't be…big enough. Tyreese was the heaviest and hardest one to move. I cried so hard that I could barely finish burring Margie."

Ava's eyes began to fill with tears at the images that came to mind. Their blank soulless stares, bodies that were cold and stiff to the touch, the fine sand falling back into the pitiful hole that she dug for them. She didn't know when exactly Shiro grabbed her hand, but it helped her stay focused. There was a long pause before she spoke again.

"After that I became so absorbed on finishing Westley. Making sure to modify the wheels so that it worked on the soft terrain. I used a lot of the ships parts for building him. Robert tried to help but there was only so much he could do. He became depressed. He couldn't get around with his broken ankle and was fixated on trying to get back to Earth."

Ava knew what was coming next. She didn't want to say it. Remembering Margie was hard but thinking about what happened to Robert was worse. Shiro sat patiently beside her, giving her hand a tight squeeze. She took a moment to think of what exactly she should tell him. With a deep breath Ava continued.

"Then one day, a month after the crash, Robert seemed different. Much different than he was before. Once the cast came off he would be gone for hours at a time wondering the desert. Always making it back to the ship before sundown. That day he came back talking about how we should go climb to the highest point of the cliffs and send a signal back to Earth to get some help."

"You mean the ones you can see from your desk?" Shiro tried to walk to the cliffs one morning. He got about halfway there before realizing it was too far and he would make it back to the ship around sunrise the next day. He knew that their plan would not have worked. And even if it had, the message would take years to get back to Earth and by the time a rescue party would show up they both would have been long gone.

She nodded. It took her awhile for her to start up again. Ava squeezed Shiros hand to help keep away the terrible images that were bubbling up again.

"Ava," The paladin kept his voice low so not to startle her, "you don't have to tell me what happened. I understand he's-"

"No! I need to." After a few deep breathes she started again, "Robert was trying to...his foot slipped…and…"

She couldn't take it anymore. Tears streamed down her face and it became harder to breathe. Ava felt him put his hand on her back, moving it up and down in a comforting gesture.

They sat together for a while with Ava's crying the only sound in the room. Shiro thought he had heard Westley come in and then quickly backed out after observing the scene. It took some time before she could talk again.

"I dreamt about him last night."

The paladin watched as she wiped the few tears that still clung to her lashes. He removed his hand from her back and placed it back in between them. There for her to take if she needed it. "What happened?"

"He…was mad. Yelling about how I had forgot about him. I tried to tell him that it wasn't true. I think about him every day. But he wouldn't listen. When I woke up he was standing over me. Staring at me like I had done something wrong." Her chestnut hair covered most of her face but she either didn't notice or care. "So I threw on my shoes and I ran, not caring where I went."

Shiro waited a bit to see if Ava was finished before asking "Have you been there before? At the lake where I found you?"

He watched her nod her head, noticing that her fingers began to pick at the hem of her shirt again. "I found it before finishing Westley. I thought…I thought if we went together it would help him."

"But it didn't."

"No. It didn't."

They sat in silence again. Ava felt so tired. Tired of the long and terrible emotional day she was having. She felt her body lean to the side, landing on Shiro's arm. "What time is it?"

"Sometime in the early morning."

"God I've been up for almost 24 hours."

"Does this planet even _have_ 24 hours?"

"I'm not sure." Ava said with a tired chuckle. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"It's ok."

"I do miss him."

"I know.

"You should get some sleep."

Shiro felt her head brush against his arm as if she was nodding. He helped her get up so he could move the covers. Then she placed her head on his shoulder and let her left arm wrap around his waist. Shiro stopped what he was doing and held her. Listening to her steady breathing as she lay against him. Holding her tightly just so she wouldn't fall to the floor and sleep right there.

And for the second time in almost a day the Black Paladin lifted the brunette into his arms and put her to bed.


End file.
